You are bidding on onehandwritten, signed letter (from 1917) of the lawyer Felix Vierhaus (1850-1917), President of the Higher Regional Court in Breslau.
Addressed to his nephew Karl, that one Notary Karl Althaus, b. on the 23rd August 1886 in Berlin as the son of the district judge Heinrich Georg Althaus (* 25. February 1845 in Berlin, died. on the 31st October 1894 in Berlin) and the Mary Adelgunde Auguste von Dechend (née on the 22nd November 1855 in Berlin-Kladow, died. on the 30th March 1917 in Teupitz), daughter of the Reichsbank President Hermann von Dechend (1814-1890).
Karl Althaus became a lawyer (most recently in Perleberg) and died in 1956.
His mother was a sister of Felix Althaus' first wife Catharina “Käthe” Adelgunde von Dechend (1858-1902). Felix Vierhaus was in his second marriage to Elisabeth Pauline Johanne, née. Help married.
DatedWroclaw, 30. April 1917. -- Written a few months before his death.
Concerns that professional future of Karl Althaus (whether he should become a lawyer or a judge).
Excerpts: "Dear Karl! [...] As far as the requested advice is concerned, such an answer is difficult because of the completely uncertain future conditions. It is always not easy for a returning lawyer because, without exception, all of his time as a lawyer is deducted from his seniority. I can't tell how you would feel afterwards. But above all, the assessors' prospects will be very poor. The need for judges has currently declined significantly because the number of cases has decreased enormously. The notary office has also declined significantly. [...] Now those circumstances will also have an unfavorable impact on the legal profession. But the lawyer still has it in his own hands to shape his practice. You had made a good start in Perleberg; I have no doubt that you will be equally successful if you try again. [...] We're fine. At the moment I am a straw widower; Angelika takes excellent care of me. With your best regards and mine, I am your faithful uncle Felix Vierhaus."
Scope: 2 ½ described on 4 pages (22 x 14 cm).
Without envelope.
Condition: paper slightly browned; good condition! bitPlease also note the pictures!
Internal note: Althaus 2023-3 documents
About Felix Vierhaus and Hermann von Dechend (source: wikipedia):
Felix Vierhaus (*10. February 1850 in Cologne; † 14. October 1917 in Breslau) was a German lawyer.
Life: Vierhaus, whose father Friedrich Wilhelm Otto Herrmann Vierhaus was also President of the Kiel Higher Regional Court between 1879 and 1887, began studying law at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn and continued this at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, the university Leipzig and the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin. Vierhaus completed his doctorate in law and entered the Prussian judicial service in 1870. In 1875 he became a court assessor and in 1876 a district judge in Kassel. In 1879 he moved to the Hanover Regional Court and in 1883 to Berlin, where in 1885 he became a government councilor and an unskilled worker in the Reich Justice Office.
In 1887 Vierhaus became a senior judge at the Kassel Higher Regional Court and in 1891 a lecturer in the Prussian Ministry of Justice, where he was promoted to Privy Chief Justice in 1894. As such, he also became a member of the Judicial Examination Commission in 1895 and became an honorary professor at the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin in 1901 and an honorary professor at the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel in 1904. In 1904 he replaced Max Beseler as President of the Kiel Higher Regional Court, but was replaced by Peter Spahn in 1905. In 1905 he himself became Privy Chief Justice again and, as successor to Max Beseler, President of the Breslau Higher Regional Court. Vierhaus, who with Max Schultzenstein was also the editor of the magazine for German civil procedure and procedure in matters of voluntary jurisdiction founded by Hermann Busch, held this position until his death on December 14th. October 1917. His successor was Max Witte in 1918.
Hermann Friedrich Alexander Dechend, from Dechend from 1865 (*2. April 1814 in Marienwerder, West Prussia; † 30. April 1890 in Berlin) was a German lawyer in the Prussian financial administration. He was the first president of the Reichsbank and sat on the Prussian State Council.
Life: Dechend was the son of the lawyer Theodor Dechend in Marienwerder. He married Adelgunde Wilke (* 20. November 1823 in Berlin; † 1915). His daughter Susanne (1859–1929) married Hugo von Kathen, who later became General of the Infantry, in Berlin in 1884.
Dechend attended the Marienwerder high school and graduated on the 17th. October 1834 the Abitur exam. He studied law and camera studies at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Berlin and the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität. In 1835 he became a member, later an honorary member, of the Borussia Bonn Corps. After the exams, he first went to the regional and city courts, then to the higher regional court in Marienwerder. He moved to Prussia's internal administration and was a government trainee from 1837. He became a government assessor in 1841 and completed technical and commercial training in Berlin in 1844/45. In the province of Westphalia he worked for the government in Arnsberg in 1846 and in Münster in 1847. In 1848 he came to the main bank, but soon afterwards he was put in charge of the Prussian Loan Fund. In 1849 he became a government councilor in the Ministry of Commerce. From 1851 onwards he was a member of the main bank management board of the Prussian Bank. In 1853 he became Privy Chief Financial Officer. In 1863 he was promoted to vice president and finally to president of the Prussian Bank in 1864. He held the office of president until 1875. After the founding of the German Empire, Dechend was the first president of the newly founded German Reichsbank from 1876 to 1890, which took over the organization of the Prussian Bank to create a central bank.
The Prussian Bank essentially owed its development from a simple central bank to one of Europe's leading central banks to Dechend. Herrmann von Dechend was therefore significantly involved in creating the organizational requirements for the Reichsbank, which later emerged from the Prussian Bank. The banknotes of the Preußische Bank from 1867 to 1874 and the German Reichsbanknotes from 1876 to 1884 bear Dechend's signature.
From 1867 to 1869, Dechend was a member of the Prussian House of Representatives as a member of the Reich and Free Conservative Party (RFKP), and from 1872 until his death (1890) he was a member of the Prussian House of Representatives. In 1884 he became a member of the State Council. Since 1877 he was the Imperial Privy Councilor. Because of his achievements, Dechend was appointed on the 12th. Raised to the Prussian nobility in June 1865.
Hermann von Dechend died in Berlin in 1890 at the age of 76 and was buried in Cemetery I of the Jerusalem and New Church in front of the Halle Gate. The grave has not been preserved.